News from CIT International

	CIT International The Team News The Voice of CIT International Celebrating 28 Years of CIT
	August 2015

August 2015 Contents

2016 Conference

Research on CIT

Changing Police Response

Art of De-Escalation

SUCCESS STORY

Sample Curriculum

New Efforts

CIT in the News

MH Bills in Senate

Announcement

DOJ Investigative Reports

CIT International is pleased to announce a

Call for Presentations for the

Next Conference Chicago April 24-27 2016 Chicago IL

Registration now Open

see citconferences.org for details

WHAT'S NEW?
People often ask about research that has been done on CIT.

Through the efforts of the Research Committee of CIT International, we can now provide a Bibliography of Research papers and journal articles on findings pertaining to CIT.

Clicking the link below will bring you to a pdf of the bibliography. http://citinternational.org/CITINT/PDF/CITResearchBibliographyofPublishedReportsAugust2015.pdf

Minnesota's Barbara Schneider Foundation teaches crisis intervention strategies to Rikers Island team

After researching the nation's top Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) programs, a group of corrections officers and other staff members from New York's Rikers Island decided that the Minneapolis-based Barbara Schneider Foundation was best qualified to lead them through an extensive train-the-trainer program designed to help jumpstart the process of implementing CIT in their facilities.

Rikers Island, a complex of 10 jails on an island in New York's the East River, has been under intense scrutiny of late, thanks to an in-depth series of articles in the New York Times focusing on abuses of inmates with mental illness at the hands of corrections officers.

The Barbara Schneider Foundation, named in honor of Barbara Schneider, a Minneapolis woman who was killed in 2000 by police during a confrontation in a mental health crisis call, conducts trainings that focus, in part, on de-escalating crisis in interactions between law enforcement or corrections officers and people with mental illness.

Some have called it the backbone of CIT Training:

THE ART OF DE-ESCALATION

by Michael S. Woody (Lt. Ret.)

(Can be printed out and inserted in every training manual)

SUCCESS STORY

FREDERICKSBURG OFFICER HONORED BY CRISIS INTERVENTION TEAM

Fredericksburg Police Officer Melanie Schafer completed the...Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training in January 2015. It wasn't long before she put it into practice. For that, she was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation.

"Officer Schafer was nominated by one of our emergency services therapists after a fantastic job with an emergency custody order (ECO) in June 2015," said Michelle Miner, CIT Program Manager. Officer Schafer endured about four hours in the emergency room with a very intense client who was under the influence of PCP and kept talking and yelling.

"Officer Schafer behaved in a very professional manner, maintaining a calm and reassuring demeanor," Miner said. "This ultimately led to the client trusting her. Officer Schafer maintained her composure and her supportive role the entire time. She remained in the room with the client throughout this process, and her dedication to keeping him calm was appreciated by many in the emergency department and the emergency services worker. who nominated her."
http://fredericksburg.today/fredericksburg-officer-honored-by-crisis-intervention-team

Click this for a sample training curriculum:

http://citinternational.org/training-curriculum/149-sample-curriculum.html

Visit the University of Memphis CIT Center website to find a step-by-step guide to forming a CIT in your community.

http://www.cit.memphis.edu/engagement.php?id=0

In case you missed it:

New Efforts to Help People with Mental Health Issues Get Treatment Instead of Jail Time
WAMU Radio Interview

About 2 million Americans who suffer from mental illness are behind bars. Not because they are a threat to public safety, but because they aren't able to get the mental health services they need.
Guests: Pete Earley, author and father of an adult son diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Tom van Hemert, coordinator of a crisis intervention team in the Thomas Jefferson area in Virginia. They join us in studio. Joining us by phone from Hudson, Ohio, Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, former Ohio Supreme Court justice, and by phone from New York City, Fred Osher of the Council of State Governments Justice Center.
Listen

Be informed

Browse Recent News Articles on CIT & Related topics gathered from July 2015 media at:

http://citinternational.org/news-items/292-july-2015-law-enforcement-a-mental-health-news.html

This link leads to a collection of related news items gathered from the July 2015 news media.

Two Major Mental Health Bills Introduced in Senate

I. The Mental Health Reform Act of 2015 (S. 1945)

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) introduced The Mental Health Reform Act of 2015 (S. 1945), legislation to "comprehensively overhaul and strengthen America's mental health care system."

A bill to make available needed psychiatric, psychological, and supportive services for individuals with mental illness and families in mental health crisis, and for other purposes

The bill addresses many of the same issues as the "Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act" (HR 2646) introduced by Representatives Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-La.) in the House of Representatives, although there are differences between the two bills as well.

II. The Mental Health and Safe Communities Act

This week, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX.) introduced the Mental Health and Safe Communities Act, a bill which has not yet been assigned a number. The major focus of the bill is on preventing unnecessary incarceration of people with mental illness and enhanced treatment and services for individuals with mental illness while incarcerated and following release.

The bill specifies that federal resources should be used to expand programs with proven effectiveness such as:

Pre-trial screening and jail diversion programs

Mental Health Courts

Veterans Treatment Courts

Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) programs for law enforcement and other first responders

Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) programs

Other evidence based approaches.

Next Steps
The House and Senate have adjourned for August recess and will be returning to Washington after Labor Day. It is expected that both chambers will begin deliberations on several mental health bills, including the two described above, when they return. We will shortly send out an advocacy update with more detailed information about these bills as well as actions you can take during recess to advocate for passage. (NAMI News Release)

Read more about The Mental Health and Safe Communities Act:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nami-applauds-us-senator-cornyns-bill-to-reduce-incarceration-of-people-with-mental-illness-300124553.html

ANNOUNCEMENT

Regional Conference Vancouver, WA

September 2015